Gas needle is not accurate

[c41250n]

So it just happened recently after I had the car for more than a year! So I just got a full tank, and the needle would never go all the way to full, and sometime it would just jump all over the place sometimes. When it reads below empty, it would just take around 11 gallons! My gas reserve light never worked, so I don't know what the problem is.

Any idea would help, thanks

[g6civcx]

Check the fuel pump and float assembly. Most of the times the floater goes bad and get stuck.

[clark]

yeah i've always had the same problem, to me this is a good thing, because when the needle is empty, you've got like 3-4 more gallons.

this is something i'm not going to bother fixing becasue:

1. mentally we are trained, when the needle goes to E, we fill up

2. keeping this in mind, we won't let the fuel pump go dry, plus the way most 240 owners drive, gas is sloshing around and your fuel pump will always have a pool to drink from.


with that said, leave it alone, i've alwasy seen postings like yours and alot of people chime in.

[g6civcx]

The S13 fuel pickup is in a bad location. Never let the tank run below 1/4 or you can have fuel starvation.

[n8RPS13]

g6civcx is right your floater has gone bad most likely.

[lazysk8er2]

i fill up every 200 miles

[03redTuscani]

If you would search, you would see that this is a pretty common issue. Like g6 said, it is very likely that it is your floater assembly.

[c41250n]

oh, thanks for all the info....is it hard to replace the floater?

[handinpants]

i had this problem, and it randomally stopped... gas light never worked either, i think it was burnt out

[mxexux]

I had this problem on my s14. The floater assembly is supposed to be clipped to the inside wall of the tank. Somehow on mine it became unclipped so it would toss around giving all kinds of different reading as it floated around randomly in the tank. Yours could be the same and hopefully you just need to slide it back onto the clip or the clip is broken; the plastic parts get pretty brittle being dunked in gas for several years.

Now I just fill up every 250 miles and usually still have a few gallons in the tank.

[c41250n]

So I have to take the gas tank out to do it?

[mxexux]

No you can access the tank behind the rear seats under the carpet.

[RentonD]

No you can access the tank behind the rear seats under the carpet.

When you did yours which clip did you put it on? When I looked inside the tank there's some ridging and looks like it might be a clip and then there's a metal tip sticking out on the far right that looks like the end of a seatbelt.

[mxexux]

The clip I speek of is the one that is one the wall of the tank towards the front of the car. The float/level assebmly has what looks like small rails on it; you slide the assembly on that ridging that you saw on the tank and it should clip in when its all the way in. Hope this helps.

[dOMEmE]

I had this problem on my s14. The floater assembly is supposed to be clipped to the inside wall of the tank. Somehow on mine it became unclipped so it would toss around giving all kinds of different reading as it floated around randomly in the tank. Yours could be the same and hopefully you just need to slide it back onto the clip or the clip is broken; the plastic parts get pretty brittle being dunked in gas for several years.

Now I just fill up every 250 miles and usually still have a few gallons in the tank.


haha same exact thing in my case.